Duluth 2010

Taylor and I took the kiddos on our first family of four vacation all on our own! We did a long weekend in Duluth. They were really good in the car on the way up and back home. The last 20 minutes both ways for Cooper got to be long, he had had enough and I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained.


When we arrived Cooper was ready for his afternoon nap so I took Miley to the pool while he took a nap with Taylor. Miley LOVED the pool. She hasn’t been swimming in a pool since her swimming lessons last spring, so it was fun to get her in there again. After we swam we got ready to go on our first train ride of the weekend. We took a short ride to the Bentlyville Tour of Lights which next to the Aquarium just as you enter Duluth. The lights were amazing! They had such cool displays and free cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows to roast in the fire pit area. They had Christmas creatures roaming around to pose for a photo, we met Mr. Penguin and Mr. Rudolph himself! We could have stood in line to see Santa, but it was cold and we were going to be visiting Santa on Saturday so we decided to skip that part. We got back to the hotel after the tour and had some pizza and curled up and watched the Christmas movies that were on that night.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast and headed for the pool. Cooper LOVED the pool! We spent about 2 hours there! Miley even participated in the sailboat races! After we swan we had lunch and a much needed nap. Then it was time for the main reason we went up there- the Polar Express train ride!!! We boarded the train which was covered with lights and had Christmas Music playing as you entered. We sang Christmas carols as we road to the “North Pole train station” which happened to be the train museum. We entered the train station to see the toy engines up and running. Then we were escorted into the next room where they had carolers singing and a big carpet rug laid out on the floor. The Children sat and were entertained by a Story teller reading them the Polar Express. The train station was decorated in lights and Christmas décor. After the story each child received their very own Christmas bell and they got to meet with Santa. Miley LOVED him and Cooper did well too. Miley said she wanted Dinosaurs- girl ones, not boy ones and told Santa that Cooper wanted some boy toys. (Yes, Santa did some last minute shopping to find some Girl dinosaurs as to keep the magic alive, she is CERTAIN Santa will bring her them!) We got to tour the train station before the Polar Express picked us up again and brought us back to Christmas Town where we got to have cookies and hot chocolate by a big bonfire. Then it was back to the hotel for some Olive Garden to go for Taylor and I and McDonald’s for the kiddos and then we all curled up and watched our favorite movie- The Christmas Story and drifted asleep.

It was a great little family Christmas Vacation and we hope to do something like that at least every other year. It was fun to do something special as a family at this time of year, and Duluth is so pretty in the winter. And shocking enough, they had less snow than we did!

We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Winter with the Pagel's

Well, it's been a month since I posted, that is SO not like me! It's been busy, when does it ever slow down? Never, for us! Cooper is 10 months now and we all have bets on him being able to walk by Christmas! Wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas present!!! He could do it, if he just would get brave enough. He barely hangs on to the things he holds when he walks and he has stood free standing by himself for periods of time, so now we just have to get some courage.

He has now decided he is an independent eater, he doesn't really go for the baby food anymore, he would rather feed himself. His FAVORITE foods are crackers and cooked carrots. He could seriously eat those all day long! He likes just about anything you put in front of him, I just hope he stays that way. I know I am trying to be very concious this time around about making sure he eats lots of veggies over and over again because I think, with Miley, we didn't push them on her and now she wants nothing to do with them. So, fingers crossed for Coop.

He has 6 teeth and the 7th is just about to pop. He seems to have slowed down a bit in the growing department. He is holding steady at 18 month clothes and I think we will be there for the remainder of the winter.

Happy as a Lark eating carrots!

Getting ready for his FIRST Christmas!!! Cutting down his FIRST Christmas Tree!!!

Next winter buddy, you can come out and make Fairy Snow Castles with Mommy and Miley.

Miss Miley- wow, Miss Miley. She's a SPONGE. Please watch out for what you say around her now! She will be quick to tell you if you say something that is naughty and quick to ask you what that "*****" (Insert word) means. I said 'freaking' the other day and she says, "Mom, what's a freaking?" Oh man! Good thing that was all I said!! She certainly is in the Terrible Two stage and heading into the Terrible Three's. She is Sassy but OH so cute! She makes us laugh daily! She says the funniest things that are well beyond her years. She loves to sing and makes up songs all the time about what she is doing. "Putting it in the Garbage, I'm putting it in the garbage, in the gggaaarrrbbbaageee....." I love her!

She's quite the girly girl too- loves putting on makeup with Mommy and doing her nails and she seems to always end up wearing her dresses by the end of the day, even if they are meant to only be worn in July!

Having Breakfast and a story with "Mrs. Santa" she called her.

This is one of her FAVORITE dresses.

Building Fairy Snow Castles

Picking out a tree and playing with snow balls

I'm sure, the first of many years where Family Christmas pictures will just not quite turn out how I imagined them too. :) Oh, the memories!

9 Month Stats

I brought Cooper in for his 9 month well child check up and here are the stats:

25.3 pounds (down a few ounces from when he went in at 8 months) which is off the charts still- but all his crawling and walking around has helped him hold steady with his weight

29 inches long- only the 45th percentile- short and chubby just like his sister was

The only shot he got was a flu shot and I brought Miley along so she could get her flu shot as well.

Miley LOVES going to the doctor, LOVES it! She was a little jealous that Dr. Dann was checking out Cooper and not her so when the nurse came in to give the shots she asked me who was going to go first and Miley jumped up and down and raised her hand say "Me, Me, Me, I'm first!" So, she sat up on the table and the nurse was telling her she was going to clean her leg and at the same time I took out her prize for doing a good job- a Kit Kat and showed her that if she does good she gets her candy. The nurse then said OK Miley, you will feel a little prick and then I'll be done. Miley watched her give her the shot, she tensed up for a half a second and then said "OUUU THAT REally hurt" And she was over it and grabbed her Kit Kat and then got super excited that she was getting a band-aid. The nurse looked at me and said- "Wow, that was REALLY REALLY good". Miley has always been good with shots, but I also don't hide the fact that she is getting one from her. We had discussed it the day before in full detail and I flat out told her that it would hurt, but only for a second and she as OK with that, as you can tell.

Then it was Cooper's turn. He got his shot and tensed up and let out a cry for one second and as soon as I stood up with him he was over it. I'm so proud of my kiddos! They are tough!

Cooper- 9 months

Mr. Cooper James has done leaps and bounds over the past month!

He still only has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom but the other four have GOT to be around the corner- he's been getting a runny nose again and crabby during the night.

His biggest accomplishment is that he became mobile, very mobile. All of a sudden one day he just figured out how to crawl, the next day he was pulling up on everything, the next day he was walking around furniture, then the next day he was walking behind push toys. Seriously, just in a snap of a finger. Every day we have been amazed at how much more he is doing. He gets into everything now, he has his own toy preferences, he has to be where the action is and he has no problem getting to the action. Plus, he has a big sister he is trying to keep up with, and he does fairly well at it!

He is a very good eater, shocking huh! We are still nursing several times a day but he is also now eating all three meals and a snack during the day. If anyone is eating anything when he is around he will make sure he comes over to check it out and take a taste. He LOVES carrots- diced carrots- that he can feed himself. He loves meat, pasta, bread, cheerios, all fruits and yogurt. Of course, all things ground up, I love my little hand grinder. We are starting to break away from the baby food and just grinding up what we are eating and he is much happier with that. I'm thinking this weekend we might start teaching him how to feed himself with a spoon- we'll see how that goes. He picks up on things very quickly, so I'm sure he'll get it figured out right away. I taught him how to drink out of a straw two weeks ago and now he's a pro at it.

For as crabby as he was as a newborn, he sure is happy now. He is smiling all the time, he found his voice in the last week or so and is quite the chatter box. He is entertaining and such a little love bug.

His 9 month check up is on the 18th- stats to come....

NEW CAMERA!!!

If you haven't heard- Taylor made a bet with me... he told me that if he got a Buck in WI on Friday or Saturday I could get the new camera I have been drowling over. This bet was a big deal because he was leaving me along with the kiddos for 3 days, one of which included a work day... so... I was just very busy all weekend.

So- if you know me... my motto is POSITIVE THOUGHTS LEAD TO POSITIVE OUTCOMES.... well... on Friday Taylor had no phone service where he was but I was just getting this vibe that he was going to get a nice buck... so I ordered my camera without him knowing, at that time. HEHEHE I just KNEW he would get one... and with having already gotten my camera I was sending every positive vibe I had back at him.

Well... Just to paint a picture... Bob has been out hunting in WI for DAYS and HOURS on end... Taylor goes out and sits Friday morning, Friday evening, Saturday morning (in the rain) and Saturday evening and BAM- GOT ONE!!!!!!! HECK YES!!!! I knew my positive vibes would work!!!

My new camera will be here TOMORROW!!!! Expect MANY photos from me- as soon as I figure it out! It's a Samsung HZ50W- Middle of the line camera- better than a point and shoot but not as fancy as a professional one. I'm PUMPED! Tomorrow can't come soon enough!!!

Mileyisms

She knows how she feels- if I tell her she can’t do something she stomps her foot and crosses her arms and puts her head down and say “I am SO mad” – After she cools off she then says “Mom, I’m not mad anymore” Well- at least she knows how she feels- and makes it clear to me!


She came to visit me at work and says as she was playing with the little toys I have sitting on my desk “Your work is so Fun, Mom!”

As I was walking her down to Taylor’s car she asked if I was going with them and I told her no, I had to go back into work and she says “But it’s dangerous” HAHAHHAH

Last night- Miley and I were having popcorn as a snack and Taylor hadn’t eaten dinner so we made him a sandwich. We were going to have a picnic in the living room so Miley says to me “You carry that plate with a sandwich for daddy and the water cup for Mommy and Me and I carry the popcorn bowl for Mommy and Me, Thanks mom for carrying the water!” I just laughed! So detailed in what we were doing! I was impressed by her thought process.

Last night as she was giving Taylor a hug and kiss good bye before he left I told her to tell him Good Luck and to get a deer she says “Good Luck get a BIG deer like this” as she puts her hands up over her head and wiggles her fingers.

She is a very polite little girl- if she does something that I told her not to- like spilling, on herself; she immediately says “I’m sorry mom, I spilled a little” – at least she is polite and honest about it.

Discussion about her paci’s- I tell her all the time that the paci’s are going away on her birthday.

She holds on to her paci, in her mouth and shakes her head no. I then explain to her that the paci fairy is going to come and take her paci box and all of her paci’s and leave her a big present. She runs into her room and grabs her paci box and says- “But I don’t want the paci fairy to come and take my paci’s away, I need them” in a sad little voice. OH BROTHER…. This may be a difficult thing. Especially when she starts crying about something, she says “I need my paci” I will tell her no, she doesn’t. She follows up with “Yes I do, I’m crying, see” What did we get ourselves into!

Cooper Sits Up

He was crawling a bit, of course, before I got my camera out- but he shows off his other new skill of sitting up. I'll continue to try to get him moving on film.

Photo Gallery

I'm sure it's no surprise- but Cooper LOVES his food! He eats very well and I think we are about to pass the baby food stage. He would rather eat what we are eating. If I break it up into tiny pieces he feeds himself really well and does a good job, but he also is a typical boy, and would sometimes rather be lazy and have me spoon feed him. We try new foods all the time and the only thing I have found that he really really hates are brussel sprouts! (Taylor and I love them!)

My happy boy! He has four teeth and he's been working on the other four for some time now, I am surprised they haven't popped through yet. Miley had 8 teeth by 8 months, so he has fallen slightly behind her in that category.

This was taken a few weeks ago- he is MOVING all over the place now! He just pulled up for the first time this weekend and he crawls a few paces and then is down but he rolls and scoots and gets what he wants.

Coop and his best bud Grayson! We have frequent play dates. Cooper is kind of a bully, that, or he really loves Grayson, every time they sit by each other Cooper reaches over and just grabs a hold of him. Best Buds for Life!

My pretty Miley! One night when Taylor was gone teaching night school and Cooper was already in bed she let me play with my camera and take funny pictures of her. She never lets me do that! So I was excited to actually get a good shot where she wasn't moving around.

My new hair-do is curly, so one night I asked Miley if she would let me curl her hair, I have NEVER curled her hair before and she was surprisingly VERY excited. When I got done she stared at herself in the mirror for a half hour, dancing around and making faces and admiring how pretty her hair was. She LOVES getting her hair curled now! It's a lot of fun for Mommy too!!!

Sibling Love! They play so well together! Miley just lets Cooper beat up on her, he loves to pull her hair and she rolls around with him and they honestly get along very good. We love seeing them interact more and more.

One night as Taylor and I were working with Cooper in the living room trying to get him to walk holding our hands, crawl and pull up (we practice every night!) Miley was in the dining room using water colors. She told me she was staying on the paper and when I went in there to check on her- this is what I found. Right to the tub after this picture!

I think he was almost 6 months old in this photo- I really need to get better at taking more pictures, I think half of my problem is that I hate my camera. A nice digital semi-professional camera is the only thing on my Christmas List this year!

Cooper's Getting Better...

It's amazing what a small dose of steriods and a nebulizer can do for a little guy. After his first dose he turned around! He slept well all weekend, finally! And is breathing much better. We did steriods for two days and a neb twice a day for two days and he has improved 99%! Now, we can just have the neb to use on a 'as needed' basis.

Is he 100% himself? No, not yet. Darn teething! He's been working on 4 teeth for 2 months and we are all very anxious for them to just pop through! He's got two on top and two on bottom and his gums look puffy on top and bottom next to his middle teeth. I'm betting on them popping through on the left side first. He is slightly behind Miley on the teething front. She had 8 teeth by 8 months and Cooper turned 8 months on Sunday. I'm hoping they all pop through during the next month.

He has taken a little growth spurt though. Not only his weight, from Monday's doctor appointment weighing in at 25.3 pounds and then at Friday's doctor appointment weigning in at 25 lbs 14.5 ounces but he has gotten taller. You would think that such a rapid huge growth in weight that he'd look pudgier but he actually is starting to slim down, a tiny bit. You can see his neck when he looks up and his cheeks aren't as full. His thighs- well, that's another story. But hey, I'm sure once he starts to really get moving he'll thin out quickly.

Speaking of moving- he is soo ready! He will roll all over the place to get to where he wants and spin on his tummy and scoot backwards and sometimes forwards. He is SOO close to crawling, he is really trying and he will walk if you are holding his hands. He thinks its so funny when he walks, I think he feels like a big boy.

Miley just adores her little brother, she is so good at helping out with him and teaching him new things. She even lets him pull her hair, he has a hair fetish like she does, she will scream OUCH OUCH OUCH when I brush her hair and hardly pull on it but yet she will let Cooper grab on with his death grip and she won't say Boo. What a good big sister!

Miley's "Trick"

During dinner last night Miley was talking to Taylor about her food and here is the conversation they had:

Daddy: "Miley eat your supper"

Miley: "Daddy wanna see this this this twrip, thissss quick, tich... I can't say it... "

Daddy: "Trick?"

Miley: "Yeah, Trick, wanna see this trick!"

HHAHAHAHAHhAhAh So funny!

Follow Up Appointment

We got good news at the Specialty Children's Hospital for Cooper. He said that his testicle is there, just not all the way dropped yet but very close. He thinks that once he becomes mobile and looses his 'fat pad' as they call it, that it will help bring it the rest of the way down. He said that if it doesn't appear to change in a year from now to then bring him back in. So, I guess that is good news and he didn't seem too worried, so I guess I will stop worrying about it, for now.

He got over his ear infection and now has a cold. He broke out in some weird rash towards the end of his antibiotic so they made us come in to see if it was an allergic reaction to the meds and he said it would have been more hive looking if it would have been from the meds but his ear was clear so to stop taking them. Ironically 24 hours after being off of the medicine the rash disappeared, so who knows. Check out a this picture of his cheeks- his whole body looked like this.

And Miss Miley is going in today to see what she has, possible ear infection, strep throat, beginnings of pneumonia. Man- We just want both of our kids to be healthy and happy for longer than a week at a time. Wouldn't it be great!?!?

So, Miley is going through a stage where she just doesn't want her picture taken- So, I want to publicly announce that I did not try to have a void in photos during her 2nd year of life, she just wouldn't let me take any! Unless she was doing something goofy....

And I have to share this cute brother sister moment when we spent the last night in the camper for the season. They were having breakfast sitting next to each other at the table and they both thought it was so fun to sit right next to each other. Cooper was more thrilled than Miley, he felt like such a big boy!

Well-- here is to hoping for healthy times to come in my household. Hope everyone is enjoying Fall! :)

Coop's First Ear Infection

Well- we have found the culprit to our sleepless nights- Cooper has an ear infection in his right ear. After seeing each night get worse and worse and a HORRIBLE weekend we finally decided that it was something other than teething that had to be bothering him. We took him to Urgent Care on Sunday morning and it was an easy find. Sunday night he was a little better but after having slept all day long on Sunday from the lack of sleep Saturday he was up quite a bit just because he wanted to be awake. Mommy, however, was not handling this ‘awake’ business very well. With not nursing the entire weekend due to the pain I was having to pump and had to learn how to give him a bottle, yes, I had never given him a bottle before, ever. I was quite emotional on Monday. I wanted my baby to nurse, I was utterly exhausted, and I wanted my baby to feel better.

Finally, at 3:30am last night he woke up, again, and wanted –another- bottle I decided to give the nursing thing a shot. As I grit my teeth and prayed that he wouldn’t bite down, again, my painful grit turned into a HUGE smile as my baby finally latched well and had a full feeding. Talk about a HAPPY MOMMA!!!!

So, with having such a good evening, and a freaking ROCKIN’ hair day today- I’m in such a good mood! (Side note about the hair- I had it cut a month ago, and couldn’t not, for the life of me, figure out how to style it correctly. As I went in over the weekend to color it I about had her chop it off as I just couldn’t figure it out, but Katie, thankfully, took the time to teach me how to style it correctly and I figured it out this morning by myself and I LOVE my hair now!!!)

A little update on Miss Miley- She started Studio dance on Monday! I need to get a picture of her in her cute outfit- she looks so grown up in her leotard, pink tights and ballet slippers and tap shoes! I LOVE IT! She will be learning tap and ballet all year long and have a recital in June. She is the youngest in her class and Ms. Shannon, thankfully, let her join as she has already had a year of dance before, and she did WONDERFULLY last night! I was peeking in towards the end and she was listening so well to Ms. Shannon and doing all of the cute ballet moves and acting so independent. It was seriously the cutest thing I had ever seen! I will get pictures soon!

Oh- and Miley is in a phase right now where she doesn’t want her picture taken, so this is the only one I have of her from recent. HAHA Oh toddlers! Once again, no nap for Grandma and she fell asleep on the drive home. Apparently, she is following her Mommy's footsteps as I ditched nap time by the time I was 3...

My Chunky Monkey

Cooper has been doing better- I can see his forth tooth so I think that was the reason for our sleepless nights last week. He slept much better all weekend and only nursing one time overnight, so I hope we are on the road to a more consistent schedule.

I just have to share that before I had Cooper I was very very nervous to have a second child. I had all the common feelings of "how can I love another child when I love my first SO much". Then, when I found out I was having a boy I had thoughts of "a boy, what am I going to do with a boy, how will I relate, how can I love a boy like I love my little girl". I often told Taylor "Miley is my baby and this boy is going to be your baby".

Oh how things change...

Cooper completes our little family! I couldn't ask for anything more. It is amazing how your heart can grow to love each kid individually so much. I LOVE my time with Miley and her hugs and kisses and how funny she is. And I LOVE my time with Cooper and his cuddles and laughs and how he grabs at your face to really get a good look at you. I look forward to all of the new adventures with our baby boy! And to see Miley in her glory as the best big sister anyone could ever have!

Two words:

Chunky Monkey

But he's the cutest Chunky Monkey you'll ever meet!

Just a Wednesday Night

I sometimes wish we had night vision cameras in our bedrooms, just like they do on the Real World. I'm sure I look like a zombie walking around late at night. Sometimes I don't even remember going into the kids room to tuck them back in. There has been nights that I don't even know that I'm walking and I run face first into our bedroom door, let me tell you- that's a rude awakening!

Last night wasn't as bad. I think mostly because I was sound asleep by 9:30 so having to wake up around 11:30 to insert a paci, and then who knows what time to feed and another awakening 10 minutes before the alarm went off, I just don't feel tired today. Which is a good thing.

I'm very thankful that I am a morning person! Which, I feel, is the main reason I'm so fully functioning going off of 5-7 hours of sleep, 6 being the average.

To respond to some questions: When he nurses in the middle of the night, yes, that is the only thing that calms him down. He never eats fully, so he's probably only drinking 2-3 ounces versus having a full 5 ounces. I think it's mostly the warm milk calming him down and allowing him to have a warm full belly to bring happy dreams. The doctor said that he has never seen an obese breastfed baby and to never let anyone tell me otherwise. And drinking water- he doesn't like water yet and we really haven't given him any water since he just nurses. And when he eats dinner I have breastmilk in a sippy cup and he's learning how to use that.

I'm sure he'll be like Miley and eventually stop needing it. She was probably a year old before she stopped fully needing that overnight feeding and by 14 months was done nursing all together, all by her own choice.

So, until then- I am Super Mom! Even if I could sleep through the night, I don't think I'd know how to at this point, I'm so programmed to wake up, and then there is the obvious- my boobs are VERY programmed to wake up, I think I'd have to pump for comfort if Cooper slept through the night right now! I think he's going through his 6 month growth spurt- and those darn teeth aren't helping the matter either. 4th one is just about to emerge!

Diary of a Sleep Deprived Mom

So, you would think that my kids would sleep through the night, right? WRONG!
Miley is finally getting to the point now where 80% of the time she does sleep through the night, finally! At 2 and a half. But Cooper- we aren’t anywhere near sleeping through the night.

Here is my diary of a sleep deprived mom!

Last night- I nursed Cooper at 5, then at 5:30 he had a half a cup of baby food mixed garden vegetables with Probiotic oatmeal mixed in to thicken it up. 2-3 tablespoons of our dinner diced and chopped up with my hand grinder, which consisted of whole wheat noodles, hamburger, and tomato sauce (which he loved!) and then 2 tablespoons of baby food peaches. You would think his little tummy would be full until morning! Not the case with my little man.

Last night he was up at 11:30, nursed. Up again at 3:45 or 4 (I start to lose track of time at that time of the morning) and I nursed him, again- he was screaming like he hadn’t eaten in years! Then he was quite squirmy and I realized he had peed through his diaper, so at 4:30 I changed his diaper and removed his clothes but was too tired to get something new out so I just snuggled him in his blanket and cuddled up with him in my bed, which he thought was funny. After a half hour of him squirming around and laughing and playing with his pillow and stuffed animal I finally said it was time to go to his bed again. I snuggled him up and turned on his music and went back to bed, 10 minutes later I had to go back in there and cover him back up and put the paci back in and he FINALLY went back to sleep, this being 5:15am now. 5:30- alarm goes off- I hit snooze until 5:50 then I’m up for the day.

Tonight’s changes- apparently I cannot use Huggie diapers at night, he seems to pee out of them. I had been using Parent’s Choice and never had an issue but had leftover Huggie’s from when Miley was in them- so I’m using them up. I did get a package of the Target brand diapers (just because I was there and needed some) to give them a try, hopefully we have better results tonight. Otherwise, I’m back to Parent’s Choice for good.

I will say the one nice thing about Cooper is that when I put him down for bed at night he wants to be put down awake and falls asleep quickly all on his own. Miley NEVER did this. But, when it is the middle of the night he wants to be in my bed after he nurses, and at this point of the game, I just do it because I’m getting to exhausted and will do whatever needs to be done so we can all get some sleep. I would let him cry it out in the middle of the night when I try putting him back to his crib after we nurse but that is the one down fall to sharing a room, Miley WILL wake up and I’ll end up with her in my bed. So, for now, this is what works for us. And NO- I am NOT ready to move Miley all the way downstairs, so don’t bring it up.

I would just like to get to the point where Coop only wakes up once a night…. Some day.

I want to give props to myself though- I get to work every day, I’m on time to 10 minutes late, but hey- I find that to be pretty impressive when other people seem to always been an hour or more late, consistently! Seriously- who is an HOUR late to work EVERY day! And I still have the energy to work full time and get home and devote my entire evening to my two bundles of joy! God really was creative when he made Woman- As a Mom, I feel invincible!

6 Month Photos

Here are a handful of my favorite photos of Cooper at 6 months

Follow Up Appointment

We will be seeing Dr. Schukla on September 23. (that is the soonest we could get in!) I'm anxious to see what he has to say.

6 Months with Cooper

Cooper had his 6 month check up and here are the stats:

23.7 pounds which is off the chart

26 ¼ inches tall which is in the 50th percentile

So- just like Miley was, short and fat!

Developmentally he is doing great! Very strong and everything looks wonderful.

The only issue we are continuing to have is his left teste still hasn’t descended completely. At birth it was nonexistent and within two weeks it dropped to his groin area and it’s been sitting there ever since. Dr. Heilman is thinking that it must be stuck. I did some research on what that means and it said that his canal could be too short or blocked. A very minor surgery is done to correct those issues. They say that this is more common than you might think, especially with early babies. Cooper was two weeks early and it took two weeks for it to drop out of his abdomen. We are waiting to hear back from the scheduling office to see a specialist from the U of M. With further reading they say that some doctors like to wait until 1 year to see if it will drop further but in my mind it’s been sitting in the exact same spot for 6 months and it doesn’t appear to want to move any further and I’d like to get this taken care of as soon as possible before he gets mobile. I can’t imagine having to keep a 1 year old from grabbing at it and making him sit still for two days. Many parents have posted their experiences with this surgery and they say that their little guys hardly made a peep during the entire process and healed very quickly and very well and it was 100 times harder on the parents then it ever was on their son.

Dr. Heilman highly recommends the doctor we are going to see, Dr. Schukla (I believe is what he said or something like that). He said he is really good at explaining things and answering questions and has really good bed side manner. I said, then that is the doctor for me! We will first go in and meet with him and they will do a full exam on his testicle to see if they can see what the hold up is and from there we will determine the best plan of action. It is important to get this taken care of as soon as possible because the longer it sits up in his groin the chance of infertility and/or cancer will increase. I’ll keep you posted.

He's such a happy boy! He didn't even cry after the first shot and bascially just got mad for 30 seconds after the next two. So strong! And those chubby thighs help too!

Wednesday Update

Just a fun little update for a Wednesday morning.


Cooper officially has 2 teeth now! (exact age was 5.5 months) They pooped three days apart. He is falling in the exact line as Miley did. So, if he stays on track he’ll have 8 teeth by 8 months like she did. I kind of hope that he does because he is SO interested in eating- I know he can’t wait until he can chomp down on what we are eating. Speaking of eating, we’ve introduced fruits and veggies to him and he LOVES them! He would get MAD at us during dinner time because he wasn’t eating too so we gave it a try and he just can’t get enough. He does very well with it all. He doesn’t like peas, but we’ll have to give it a try again sometime. His favorite is carrots, after his first taste he gummed at it and then smiled and laughed at me and held his mouth open wide for more. There are times when we just can’t feed it to him quick enough! And I’ve learned my lesson, I can’t pause to take a bite of my dinner while I’m feeding him, he screams at me like ‘Mom, feed me now!’. Guess that is just a sacrifice us Mommy’s have to deal with, a luke-warm meal versus a hot one. We’ve also been introducing the sippy cup when he has his supper with cold breastmilk. He didn’t like it at first but now he does enjoy the cold breastmilk and is getting use to sucking on the sippy cup. I like to do this with his meal so he can wash it down and it prepares him for when we do switch over to regular milk 6 months from now. But, until then, I just make sure I pump enough extra milk every day to put in his cup at dinner time. Cooper is at such a fun age now, he can sit up and play with his toys, he loves his jumperoo, he’s starting to ‘talk’, and he’s so smiley. I love him.

Miley amazes me weekly. It’s so crazy how much a toddler can really change before your eyes. Her vocabulary is what truly amazes me for her age. The other day we were sitting at the table and she was making funny faces into our hutch as she could see her reflection in the glass and I said to her as I was laughing at her, “Miley, what are you doing silly girl?” And she asks, “Mom, what’s that thing called?” and I said “It’s called a hutch” she follows up with (after a pause to think out her sentence) “I’m making funny faces into that hutch”. I was very proud to see her ask a question and then use it in a sentence! And very clearly enunciated as well. She is sure a mini me- she’s got the excitedness about life as I do, her SASSY moments, her loveable moments and her crabby moments and I see myself in all of her emotions. I love my big girl. “Mommy, where are you going?” “I have to go to work but I’ll pick you up today” “No mom, I don’t want you to go to work, I want you to stay here and hold me” AAHHH It’s so hard to leave after you hear that!